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Wow that is an awesome comment I think maybe even teaching people in languages such as shell which specifically and explicitly state when variables are being re

Wow that is an awesome comment I think maybe even teaching people in languages such as shell which specifically and explicitly state when variables are being referenced (prepended with the $ symbol) would be an excellent technique in teaching to let students understand the different syntactics of programming, I think syntax highlighting would also help a lot, cause it would let kids (on their own) figure out that all text in pink is of the same groups and refers to variables, while code in blue is a function, therefore a ‘group of code’. Of course, I’d maybe explain first what data types there are and really what a computer is, because many people don’t necessarily understand what is happening behind the scenes and do not see it with such technicalities, maybe the majority say about computers that they ‘just work’.

throwaway47292 5y ago
The one thing that helped a lot, was teaching HTML. How td is child of tr and sister to another td, and it has a child of h1, or how things have properties border=2 and etc. It helped with understanding where does code belong, how the code in the for loop is related to the code above it and etc. I also spend time on things like how to steal someone's cookie, and what is a cookie day 51,52,53 (https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-52-basics-of-the-internet https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-52-basic...) and also we spend a lot of time touchtyping, so her thoughts easier to be expressed through the keyboard. Also as the talk also mentions, we spend a lot of time reading code, https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-72-basics-of-basics https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-72-basic... i just print it on paper and we go over it with a pencil. The most difficult lessons are the more abstract ones understanding what the memory holds, and what the variable points to https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-95-basics-of-basics https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-95-basic... Also tearing down commodore64 and showing the actual memory address space in physical manner helps, the variable color points to somewhere >here<. We are spending about 50 days now only doing lists and for loops, I write the next day's lesson after the current lesson finishes, and I try to see what she grasps, and what is somewhat interesting and prepare for tomorrow.
- trevcanhuman 5y ago
  That’s just great, what a great parent you are! I personally do not know much HTML or even much about web dev in general but I suppose it’s worth a try.

throwaway47292 5y ago

The one thing that helped a lot, was teaching HTML. How td is child of tr and sister to another td, and it has a child of h1, or how things have properties border=2 and etc. It helped with understanding where does code belong, how the code in the for loop is related to the code above it and etc. I also spend time on things like how to steal someone's cookie, and what is a cookie day 51,52,53 (https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-52-basics-of-the-internet https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-52-basic...) and also we spend a lot of time touchtyping, so her thoughts easier to be expressed through the keyboard. Also as the talk also mentions, we spend a lot of time reading code, https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-72-basics-of-basics https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-72-basic... i just print it on paper and we go over it with a pencil. The most difficult lessons are the more abstract ones understanding what the memory holds, and what the variable points to https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-95-basics-of-basics https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids#day-95-basic... Also tearing down commodore64 and showing the actual memory address space in physical manner helps, the variable color points to somewhere >here<. We are spending about 50 days now only doing lists and for loops, I write the next day's lesson after the current lesson finishes, and I try to see what she grasps, and what is somewhat interesting and prepare for tomorrow.

trevcanhuman 5y ago
That’s just great, what a great parent you are! I personally do not know much HTML or even much about web dev in general but I suppose it’s worth a try.